After reading the many updates at witchvox this week, I found myself sad, confused, and down-right angry. We have a community that will argue over where to put an altar, split up entire covens over a private matter, and support a pay site while complaining about a FREE service that gives 200% every day of every week. When exactly are we going to stop acting like spoiled children and become a REAL, supportive, and honorable community?

You know, I'm tired of the bad guys winning, but I then must ask myself why does that happen? Perhaps it happens because we're too busy trying to righteously dictate another's path, sticking our nose into people's private business, trying to undermine a respected teacher due to personal jealousy, or have 90% of our "community" fussing while the other 10% does the real work. Meanwhile the "bad guys" just go on successfully doing what they do best while our attention is elsewhere. Sound wrong? Imbalanced? Unfair? Destructive to all we hope to achieve? Then in that case you're probably among the 10% doing the work.

This is the truth of what we're facing -- no sugar, no cookies, just black and white reality. In Shamanic traditions the term medicine represents the vital force of the All, and the natural order of things. Individually each person's medicine equates to how they heal and comprehend. Similarly, in a community our medicine is how we will comprehend our ills, adjust our intention, and create a whole new pattern -- the pattern of wholeness.

So what exactly supports this "medicine"? Well, firstly we must recognize that the community's problems didn't just suddenly appear. They've been perpetuated under the guise of perfect love and trust for decades. Love is earned. Trust is earned, and perfect love and trust is only an IDEAL since humans, by their nature, are NOT perfect. The word pagan need not equate to "pansy" or "victim."

Next we need to see that things like hard-heartedness, bitterness, lack of closure, doubt, petty jealousy, and other similar human issues also affect our wellness. Face fear and transform it to become courage. Face jealousy and turn it into respect. Face ire and turn it to wisdom.

In short, the medicine to fix our community ills isn't very sweet to many pallets. It means putting down our egos, stepping off the pedestals, swallowing false pride, and getting very, very serious. Do we or do we NOT want neo-pagan belief systems taken seriously (for that matter, do WE take our beliefs seriously)? Do we or do we NOT want freedom of religion? Do we or do we NOT want to support those individuals and groups who truly serve with respect, honor and gratitude as a guide?

Folks, these aren't trite questions -- they're important, and they've been swept under the rug for way too long. What's even worse is that those who should seriously read and ponder these ideas won't even bother. Yep, I'm willing to bet my pen that those of you nodding right now are also among the 10%. The rest have no understanding of why some faiths survive and thrive -- it's because they've created a viable, supportive community focused on cooperation, not one-upmanship. The phrase "the good of ALL" has to mean something to us, or we will fail. We will become no more than a passing paragraph in the pages of history.

So, consider this a challenge. Right now, right here ask yourself why you walk the neo-pagan path. Is it to frustrate family and teachers? Is it to try to gain power and influence people? Is it to manipulate or gossip? Is it to have a weekend hobby? If you're in any of these groups, please do all neo-pagans a favor and go away. It is people like these that undermine every good and noble thing our community accomplishes (and sadly also those that the media always seems to find).

It is time to begin drawing lines in the sand of our reality. What we do NOW, TODAY, and I really mean this MINUTE could make or break our future. It is time to make hard choices. It's time to work. It's time to remember:

" In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me - and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."

Bio: Patricia Telesco is the mother of three, wife, chief human to 5 pets, and a full-time professional author with more than 30 metaphysical books on the market. These include Goddess in my Pocket, the Futuretelling, The Herbal Arts, Kitchen Witch's Cookbook, Little Book of Love Magic, Your Book of Shadows, Dancing with Devas and other diverse titles, each of which represents a different area of spiritual interest for her and her readers.

Trish consideres herself a down-to-earth, militant Kitchen Witch whose love of folklore and world-wide customs flavor every spell and ritual. While her actual Wiccan education was originally self trained and self initiated, she later received initiation into the Strega tradition of Italy, which gives form and fullness to the folk magic Trish practices. Her strongest beliefs lie in following personal vision, being tolerant of other traditions, making life an act of worship, and being creative so that magic grows with you.

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